


Carry You

by Readvelvett



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Death, Drugs, Gen, HEAVY TW, Homophobia, Injury, Mental Illness, OT5, mentions of - Freeform, revenge porn, tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:27:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24309691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Readvelvett/pseuds/Readvelvett
Summary: Kim Taeyeon has a busy schedule, but she always makes time for the five special cases.In which Taeyeon is a school counselor and sees five different students each day of the week who need her help.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	Carry You

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of (but not explicitly depicted) abuse, drugs, revenge porn, death, injury, homophobia
> 
> This is a very heavy fic that sheds light on some topics adolescents (and adults) have gone through, they are more on the extreme side but they still occur. None of these characters actually reflect the people they are based on and are completely fictional.

Taeyeon is certainly a busy woman, she sees many students on a day to day basis, some more than others. Being a school counselor is never an easy job, but at least she doesn’t deal with a lot of heavy topics. She mostly handles situations like kids acting out or kids whose grades are slipping, mostly depression and anxiety. But every week she makes time for five special cases, one each day and they never fail to leave her feeling sad. Kids aren’t deserving of some of the things they endure, especially not these five girls. 

-

Bae Joohyun is the top contender for Valedictorian, already Senior class president, worked at her family’s company in preparation for her eventual take over, and was a musical prodigy spending ten hours a week practicing. Bae Joohyun had no time to breathe, let alone sleep, so that’s why she stopped. Perfect Joohyun, as the students and staff called her, was stripped of her title when everyone discovered her drug habits. She was pumping herself full of prescription stimulants, Adderall, Ritalin, Dexedrine, you name it she was taking it. The discovery shattered her chances at Valedictorian, they stripped away her presidential rights, and took her out of prom preparations indefinitely. She’s lucky she wasn't expelled or carted off to rehab, it pays off to have important and incredibly wealthy parents. She wasn’t even suspended, aside from having her positions taken away it was as if she had no punishment at all. 

Joohyun was thrusted into all types of private therapies to “fix” her, her parents even put her into a rehabilitation course that she did from home with a personal coach. All of these people were being overpaid and bribed to be nice to her and care about her, and for that reason Joohyun didn’t cooperate or talk, she was tired of her parents controlling her entire life. 

But Kim Taeyeon wasn’t being bribed or overpaid to talk to her and be nice to her, and that’s why Joohyun liked her. She was just a simple school counselor who was probably terribly underpaid and had no need to be so compassionate, but she was because that was her job. The school had forced her to attend sessions with Taeyeon once a week every Monday during her free period, her parents thought it was unnecessary but cited that anything that could make their daughter “normal” again was fine.

Taeyeon expected Joohyun to be deplorable, a spoiled rich brat who knew it all and had a stick up her ass. But after hearing her story and meeting her for the first time, she realized Joohyun was just a kid who was forced to be perfect. She was reserved and quiet, she fiddled with her thumbs and fidgeted constantly, and she never made eye contact. Talking to her seemed to be an issue, she had walls up that were so deeply rooted into the ground that they weren’t going to come down so easily. 

The first session went as well as she expected, mostly her talking at Joohyun and the girl just nodding or completely ignoring her all together. The second didn’t go much different than the first, but at least Joohyun spoke a little more. When prompted about why she did it, she merely just shrugged but Taeyeon knew there was more to the story. She began to ask about her hobbies and life outside of school, and that’s when she started to piece the puzzle together.

The third session was similar to the second, pulling more “trivial” information from Joohyun to add to the evidence board she had working in her mind. By the fourth session she had a pretty good idea of why Joohyun started to take drugs, but she didn’t present her case to the girl until the fifth session, which was today.

“Would you like to talk about why you started using the drugs?”

No verbal response, just a head shake as Taeyeon expected. She knows the school wants her to find out where she was getting them from, but her main concern was making sure she knew why her student used them. 

“That’s alright. If you don’t mind, I think I would like to try and explain the scenario from my perspective if that’s alright?”

She was never one for forcing her students into things that made them uncomfortable, even if they needed to eventually open up. But she was pleased when Joohyun hesitantly nodded, giving her the go ahead.

“It sounds like you’re pretty busy outside of school right? With your music lessons and your work at your family company, you must not have a lot of time for yourself.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s important that young adults like yourself have the time to explore, you have your whole life ahead of you and this is the time to find what you really want. But it doesn’t seem like you have the opportunity to do that, am I correct?”

Joohyun nods slowly.

“Does that upset you? I know for me I would definitely start to feel some aggravation. There just doesn’t seem like there’s enough time for everything right?”

“Mhm.”

“So,” Taeyeon takes a breath, hoping that she’s not overreaching with her student, “I think that you decided to use those drugs so you would have time for everything. You don’t have to tell me if I’m right or not, but that just seems like it makes sense to me.”

There’s silence for a second, but eventually she hears a small exhale and Joohyun nods her head, hair covering her downcast face. Taeyeon instantly softens her voice, hoping to open the girl up a bit more.

“You must’ve been under a lot of pressure, with all these expectations on you. This is your senior year Joohyun, you should’ve gotten the chance to enjoy it.”

There’s another nod, followed by a soft sniffle.

“Now, doing drugs wasn’t the right thing to do, but there are many cases of kids in your position who have done the same. It’s not to rebel like your family thinks, it doesn’t make you abnormal.”

She pauses, collecting her thoughts before proceeding.

“If anything, it proves that you’re human, and these expectations are a little too much. No human should have to feel like they’re suffocating with responsibilities, much less a teenager like you Joohyun. You have the right to breathe.”

Taeyeon doesn’t say anything else when Joohyun turns around in her seat. She doesn’t say anything when she sees her shoulders begin to shake or she hears the sobs coming from the teen. She only swallows and looks down at her notes, giving her as much privacy as possible to allow her emotions to come out. This was the response she had hoped for, to allow Joohyun to feel the things she had absolutely no time to feel for most of her life. Emotions are an integral part in every human’s daily life, and Joohyun is not an exception to that. It always hurts to see a student break down, but Taeyeon can rest easy knowing she helped her students come to terms with what has happened to them afterwards, even if she’s unable to fix the situation and make it disappear. 

When their session was officially over and the bell had rung to signal the next class, Taeyeon took to scribbling something on a piece of paper to give Joohyun the privacy of fixing her appearance to be more presentable. She smiled softly at the teen, handing her the piece of paper with an encouraging smile.

“I think this might benefit you. It’s not mandatory so don’t feel like you have to, but I think you’d find that it could help.”

Joohyun nodded, and for the first time Taeyeon actually received a small smile from the girl.

“And Joohyun, just remember that your feelings are valid, and it is okay to feel them out.”

The girl looked her in the eye, and Taeyeon finally caught a glimpse of the broken down girl hiding behind them, and it only made her feel more compassion. They nodded to one another wordlessly before Joohyun exited the office to go to her next class. Taeyeon was left to add to Joohyun’s file and hope she would follow through with her offer.

-

Kang Seulgi played most of the sports the school had to offer, and she was damn good at every single one of them. She made varsity basketball her sophomore year, and won their school the state championship as well. She played soccer in the spring, and volleyball in the fall, and she often helped out the coaches for the other teams when she had a chance. But her main focus was dancing, something she did all year round competitively. She was a phenomenal dancer, everyone knew who Kang Seulgi was, and everyone who opposed her knew they stood little chance. She was quite popular, surrounding herself with a bunch of popular girls and guys, many of them seniors despite her being a junior. She had scholarships already lined up for her, her entire future was in the palm of her hand due to all of her hard work.

And then the accident happened. 

Seulgi was a popular kid, she was always invited out to parties, parties full of underage teens drinking and doing drugs. But Seulgi was a good kid, she didn’t get involved in that stuff in fear of her scholarships being stripped away from her. That was until one night after the basketball team had made it to nationals and she finally decided to let loose and have a little fun. Her fun landed her in a car full of drunk teens who had no sense of responsibility. The night ended with them flipped over on the side of the road, most escaping with minor injuries, but Seulgi wasn’t so fortunate. She was paralyzed from the waist down, and all of her dreams slowly slipped away from her one by one, her future was completely gone. 

The driver of the vehicle, senior quarterback Park Bogum, was arrested after the crash, and everyone involved that had been drinking underage was suspended from school and fined a hefty amount. The Kangs had no one to sue and no one to blame other than Seulgi for breaking the law and breaking her own moral code. She returns to school almost four months later confined to a wheelchair and probably needing to repeat her Junior year. She starts seeing Taeyeon the second week after her return, when her grades started to drop drastically. It’s clear to Taeyeon during their first meeting that Seulgi is suffering from depression, not that she’s that surprised by the fact, anyone in her position probably would be. 

But more than sad, Seulgi is angry, angry at her parents, at her doctors, at Bogum, and angry at herself. Taeyeon can sense the strong self hatred and regret wafting off of Seulgi, she knows that the girl is dealing with a lot of overwhelming emotion and she wants to help. They spend the first two meetings with Taeyeon being calm and gentle and Seulgi bitterly insulting her and herself. The third meeting Seulgi finally calms down a bit, but she’s still blatantly angry and she has every right to be.

“What do you feel right now?”

“Anger. All the time its anger. I’m angry.”

“Why is that?”

Seulgi gives her an incredulous look and a scoff, Taeyeon knows that she didn’t need to ask the question but she wanted to anyway.

“Look at me. What is there to not be angry about?”

“You’re alive, you’re breathing, you have your life ahead of you.”

“I’d rather be dead than live this way.”

Alarming, but not unexpected, however Taeyeon would need to report this if she expressed a want to hurt herself.

“There’s more to life than what you plan. You have your entire life to discover new things to enjoy, it doesn’t have to stop here.”

Seulgi’s eyes were red and glossy, her emotions clearly bubbling to the surface as Taeyeon talked to her more and more.

“And what? Spend my entire life knowing that I could’ve been something great? I’ll spend my whole life focusing on the ‘what if’s and that doesn’t sound that appealing to me.”

Taeyeon knows she has a point, humans are inherently flawed in many ways. It’s natural for her to think about what she could have had if she hadn’t made mistakes.

“It's hard not to think about that yes, but there’s always the chance that you could’ve gotten injured later on, maybe there’s a chance that you wouldn’t have been great.”

She seemed insulted at Taeyeon’s insinuations and Taeyeon doesn’t blame her, but she’s about to make a point and there’s no room for sugar coating in a therapeutic setting. 

“You are gifted Seulgi, you had years of your life dedicated to what you love and that matters. Maybe you won’t have that anymore but that doesn’t mean you won’t fall in love with something else, maybe something you wouldn’t have noticed had this not happened.”

Seulgi doesn’t respond for a long time, she lets the words settle and stick and Taeyeon is glad she didn’t resist. She feels empathetic when glossy eyes meet hers and the younger girl’s lip trembles.

“This is all my fault, I’m so stupid. I ruined my life.”

“No, Seulgi. The future you wanted might not be achievable anymore, but you still have a future ahead of you. And we are all at fault for the mistakes we made, but you can’t live your life blaming yourself, you didn’t know this would happen no matter how probable it might’ve been. There was no plausible way you could’ve known this would happen. Mistakes are made everyday, some more crucial than others, but it makes us human. You’re human and you’re valid, what you feel is valid and important, but it’s not all there is to life, I promise.”

She ends her tiny monologue and Seulgi stares wordlessly at her for awhile before bringing her hand up from her lap to wipe her eyes. She nods slowly at Taeyeon, sniffling in agreement with what the woman told her. It wasn’t going to be easy, they both knew that Seulgi wouldn’t stop her destructive thoughts any time soon, but that’s what Taeyeon is here for. It helps that she sees multiple therapists, including a physical one to help her get used to her condition. They can continue to work in the future, but for now Taeyeon is sure she has something suitable for the teen.

“I have a proposition for you, you don’t have to agree, but I definitely think you should try it out.”

-

Son Seungwan was unironically known as “the girl who lived” like she was Harry Potter brought to life. And while Taeyeon found it insensitive and distasteful, the name wasn’t exactly wrong, she was the girl who lived. Seungwan was relatively new to the school district, transferring about halfway through her junior year from a nearby school. Because of the close proximity of their schools, it's not a surprise that people knew her name and knew who she was. She did make national news afterall, it’s hard not to know who she is. It was November when it happened, not too early in the month to wear summer attire, but not too late to where it was already snowing and Christmas was looming over their heads. Seungwan had been at school when it happened, staying after to tutor some students in chemistry. The school was shortly instructed not to send her home when the news broke, and to keep her in the dark for as long as possible. Seungwan had been trapped at the school with her teacher Tiffany for hours, and it was Tiffany that held her first when she received the news.

Her parents were dead.

The police officially concluded it was a murder-suicide. With the help of neighbors who reported hearing loud screams and struggle as well as gunfire, law enforcement was able to deduce that her father had snapped and murdered her mother before turning the gun on himself. Wendy’s life essentially fell apart that day, the happy go lucky genius was pretty much gone. She didn’t even have anywhere to go, her mother’s parents wouldn’t be arriving for another day and she had no other family. Usually it would’ve been inappropriate for her to stay with a teacher, but in this case it was warranted for Tiffany to take Seungwan home with her and keep an eye on her until her grandparents could take her in.

Her grandparents moved to a town nearby, none of them willing to stay in Seungwan’s old home. So Seungwan was forced to leave her school and attend the sister school in the next town over, but a fresh start was exactly what she needed. The reputation still followed her around, people whispered and pointed when she first walked into the school, but it quickly died down and eventually she just became the girl who lived. 

Taeyeon wasn’t surprised when the girl first walked into her office, though she never questioned whether it was by school request or her own volition. What she was surprised by was how lively Seungwan was, she was so polite and sweet and always had a smile on her face. Their first meeting was on a Wednesday during lunch period, and it quickly became a weekly attendance. 

“Please, call me Wendy.”

Seungwan had said to her, and though intrigued, Taeyeon didn’t question the nickname until much later in their meetings. She found Seungwan to be one of the nicest students she had ever met, and she always looked forward to her meetings with the girl. She was incredibly considerate, even having baked Taeyeon’s favorite cookies upon learning her birthday was coming up. It was touching, and Taeyeon had no doubt that this girl had a bright future ahead of her, especially if her perfect GPA had any say. Aside from being the girl who lived, people called her the new Bae Joohyun, but only in an academic sense because the two could not be more different.

Of course, Taeyeon wasn’t unaware of why the girl had come to see her in the first place, everyone knew who she was. But she had quickly learned that while Seungwan loved to talk, there was one thing she refused to talk about, and that was the reason why she was there. Taeyeon didn’t necessarily mind, she knew that giving the girl a normal space to talk without any judgement or reputation following her was important, so she let Seungwan talk about whatever she wanted.

It wasn’t until their eighth meeting that Taeyeon began to prod gently, nothing serious just a few harmless questions. She’d ask and Seungwan would answer, if she noticed a change in her demeanor she’d quickly change the subject. She’d ask “how are you settling into town?” and Seungwan would just give her a smile and respond shortly with a positive response, but Taeyeon could see the pain hidden behind her eyes. 

It became rapidly apparent that Seungwan’s cheerful attitude and expressions were, for the most part, forced. They’d have to work on that, but that could happen after the girl started to open up about the incident. Taeyeon wasn’t Seungwan’s only counselor, she had a professional therapist she saw twice a week. Seungwan was special in the sense that Taeyeon had contact with her therapist, they worked together and exchanged notes, she didn’t do this for any of her other students. She had yet to open up to either of them about the incident, not even mentioning her family once.

Until their tenth meeting, one that completely switched the gears of their meetings.

Seungwan had just been going on about her tutoring sessions, ones that she had picked up at this school because she truly was a genius. She didn’t have many friends to talk about, actually Taeyeon was fairly certain she didn’t have any which was beyond her since the girl was so nice. 

“May I ask why you go by Wendy rather than Seungwan?”

It hadn’t been intentional to let the question slip, but she truly was curious as to why the girl didn’t go by her birth name (even if it was a boy’s name, it still sounded beautiful on her). Seungwan hesitated for a moment and Taeyeon regretted asking when she saw her eyes mist slightly.

“Peter Pan was my favorite movie as a kid, my… mom gave the nickname to me.”

Seungwan’s ability to finally bring up her childhood or her parents was vastly important, no matter how small the mention was. And even though she could see the way Seungwan tried to hide her tears and her pain, Taeyeon was intensely proud of her student.

“It’s a beautiful name, it fits you well, Wendy.”

What Seungwan says next still remains the most shocking thing the girl had ever done during their meetings, but she was beyond relieved that Seungwan was ready to face what happened.

“Taeyeon unnie, do you think my mom would be proud of me?”

It always made her happy when her students were comfortable enough to call her unnie or noona, their comfortability was her top priority. And for Seungwan it was the same, if not more.

“I think she’s very proud of you, Wendy. And I am too.”

Seungwan’s watery smile was a complete win for Taeyeon, and she had never been happier to see the girl give a genuine smile, even if it was surrounded by sullen expressions. She handed Seungwan a tissue and let the girl gather herself again before she proceeded to talk about the less important things again. Taeyeon didn’t mind though, those few moments were a substantial step for Seungwan, she was starting to progress and that was what mattered. 

“You know Wendy, I think I have something that might be good for you.”

-

Park Sooyoung was your run of the mill slut. At least that’s what everyone called her, along with “whore” and “skank” that’s just who she is. Or at least, that’s what her now ex-boyfriend claims she is. Sooyoung wasn’t necessarily a good student, she wasn’t very popular, at least not in a good way, and she didn’t have many people she could call friends. Now more than ever, people turned the other way whenever they saw her coming. People were so quick to spread rumors and others around them were so quick to believe it. Taeyeon is glad that her job is to not believe the rumors she hears, she’d much rather see her students as humans than walking rumors. It comes as a surprise when Sooyoung is escorted into her office by a security guard who looks less than thrilled.

“What happened?”

“Ms. Park threatened a student in her class and was one second away from getting physical.”

Taeyeon wasn’t impressed, it’s not often that violence occurs in the school, and its less often that it’s reported to her first.

“Why not take her to the office?”

“They specifically requested for you to see her.”

Fair enough, who better than to get the girl to talk about her behavior than a counselor? She finds that Sooyoung is less than pleasant less than five minutes into their first interaction. She’s snotty and rude and deflects every single question Taeyeon throws at her, but Taeyeon can’t blame her. With that reputation, she’d probably be pretty defensive too. She sets up weekly meetings with the girl, filling her Thursday morning slot with the deplorable brunette. 

The first three sessions go about as well as you’d imagine, Taeyeon trying to remain calm and patient while Sooyoung snarks her to death and avoids answering all of her questions. Their fourth and fifth session she seems less defensive and more sad than anything else, and by their sixth session it’s like that feisty brunette had entirely disappeared.

“Why did you and your boyfriend break up?”

That seemed to start something in Sooyoung, and Taeyeon can’t feign surprise when she actually receives an answer.

“Who wouldn’t break up with me? I’m the school skank, I’m sure you’ve heard.”

“Was that the reason?”

“Does there need to be one? I’m a skank, a slut, a whore, what other reason do you need.”

Sooyoung was angry, and Taeyeon had a feeling it was not directed towards her.

“Are you? I don’t think you are.”

This seemed to momentarily stun the brunette who searched desperately for something to retaliate with. It became clear to Taeyeon that no one had ever denied the rumors, and that she was probably the first to outright disagree. Sooyoung probably learned to adopt the image for herself since no one believed her otherwise. 

“Why not? I sleep around, people say I’m probably a walking STD at this point, the pregnancy rumors, I’m sure you’ve heard them.” 

“Are they true, the rumors?”

Taeyeon takes a bold leap, hoping that she can finally tackle Sooyoung and get the truth out of her, but Sooyoung doesn’t give up so easily.

“Yes, why wouldn’t they be?”

Taeyeon doesn’t give up easily either.

“You seem upset Sooyoung, would you be this upset if the rumors were true? Would you talk so bitterly about yourself if what people said was true, or would you deny it?”

Sooyoung falters, her eyes shine with unshed tears as she stares into Taeyeon’s completely judgement free eyes. She breaks away first, a symbol of her backing down and she whispers so quietly Taeyeon barely catches it. 

“It’s better to own it than be called a liar.”

“So it’s not true then?”

Sooyoung shakes her head and Taeyeon wants to sigh in relief, this is what she had been waiting for. Sooyoung wasn’t some bitchy teen who slept around, she was misunderstood and angry and she had every right to be.

“I broke up with him.”

“So is that why he started these rumors? Why wouldn’t you deny them?”

She shrugs, no verbal response to that one and Taeyeon can tell something is off. She feels as though Sooyoung is hiding something, her body language tells her the full truth is not on display. 

“Sooyoung, is he holding something over your head?”

That certainly gets the girl’s attention, alarm evident all over her face and Taeyeon knows she’s hit the mark. She’s figured out the why, but the what is still a mystery and she’s not sure she will ever get it out of her. Luckily for her, she’s wrong. 

“What is he holding over you, Sooyoung? You don’t have to be afraid to tell me.”

There’s a long pause where Sooyoung debates whether or not to actually tell her the truth and Taeyeon’s patience doesn’t waver, they’ve already made a lot of progress.

“He has… pictures and videos… of me…”

Oh.  _ Oh _ . Taeyeon tries not to let her face falter, there’s no reason that a junior should have pictures of a sophomore especially those types of things, that is beyond illegal and he can get in a lot of trouble, her as well if they were consensual.

“Sooyoung, did you send him those videos or photos?”

She shakes her head, and it's hard for Taeyeon to not breathe in relief. This entire situation just got incredibly more difficult. She can understand why Sooyoung goes along with what he says, if he is threatening to release these then her parents will be involved and her father is the pastor at the local church. Premarital sex would never go down well for Sooyoung, but at this point she has to report it, she’s legally obligated to. Her ex is an idiot, Taeyeon thinks, if he released those videos or photos he would be arrested regardless, but Taeyeon is sure as hell not going to let him continue to hold this over Sooyoung’s head. 

“I’m going to get the police involved and we are going to make this right. I promise you Sooyoung, he will not get away with this.”

Sooyoung doesn’t cry, she doesn’t react at all, almost as if all of her determination had been stripped from her all this time. Taeyeon feels her own heart throb with compassion for the girl across from her, someone who didn’t deserve the slander that was thrown her way. She can’t imagine the pain and fear this girl must feel, she doesn’t want to imagine. She just gives Sooyoung her strongest, most determined gaze, and swears to make it right.

“I want you to give some thought into this,” she hands the girl a slip of paper before she sends her out and notifies the secretary that they need to involve law enforcement in a case, “I want to help you as much as I can Sooyoung, and I believe this is a good start.”

-

Kim Yerim was a name that flew under the radar until it didn’t. Bullying and harassment was not something the school necessarily saw often, and definitely not to this scale where a majority of the students were involved. The school board was less than pleased to hear about the incident, much less concerned for Yerim than they were for their reputation. But Taeyeon felt the opposite, Yerim was her main concern after the incident, and those that followed after. One day no one knew her name, and then the next photos of her and another girl kissing were plastered all over the school. The other girl was unrecognizable, you couldn’t see her face and there was no way to conclude who it was, but Yerim was pictured clearly, and her name quickly began to circulate the school. The incident was so bad, her parents had to get involved, and Taeyeon bore witness to the wrath of the poor girl’s parents. She was witness to all of it actually, harboring Yerim in her office that Friday morning until her parents came. They didn’t talk about it, actually Yerim didn’t talk at all, she kept her eyes glued to her phone as notification after notification popped up. Her parents' arrival was clearly distressing her, and after being thoroughly berated in front of a bunch of staff, Yerim was taken home for the weekend.

An assembly was held later that afternoon to discuss what had happened and how the school will not tolerate that kind of behavior. The principal made it clear that whoever was responsible would face major consequences if discovered. Yet, weeks later and no one had any idea who it was. They got away scot-free and Yerim was doomed to be regarded as the “queer” or “homo” for the rest of her high school career. Taeyeon feels bitter when she thinks about how Yerim had just entered high school, and three months into it she was already being bullied and harassed for something that should be regarded as completely normal. 

She’s not surprised when the girl comes knocking on her door the Friday following the first incident. She welcomes the girl instantly with a warm smile, more than relieved to see she had decided to stop by. After the previous Friday, Taeyeon had heard nothing but bad things about the girl. Apparently she was being harassed relentlessly, she had her clothes stolen from her gym locker and was forced to change elsewhere, boys continued to cat call her in the hallways and said vulgar things to her, and her friends had all decided to drop her. That was all just in one week, and Taeyeon didn’t even know how her family was reacting, but considering their first encounter she assumed less than optimal. So she was immensely glad to get the chance to sit with her and provide a non judgmental space for her.

Taeyeon found that Yerim was by far her most confusing student she had. Joohyun was reserved where Seungwan was talkative, Seulgi was angry where Sooyoung was defensive, and Yerim was a combination of all of them. She spent the first week hardly talking, the second increasingly more aggressive, the third rambling on about different excuses, and the fourth just downright defensive. 

“It’s not true you know. I’m not… that’s not me.”

“It was all just a mistake, it happened once, it didn’t mean anything.”

“There’s no way I would ever be like that, I like boys.”

Taeyeon never asked but Yerim kept insisting regardless, at this point she wasn’t sure who Yerim was trying to convince. She wanted to tell her that it was okay, that if she was there was nothing wrong with that, but based on her reaction she’s sure it won’t go well. Taeyeon thinks that maybe Yerim grew up in an environment where she was taught that it wasn’t okay, and if she happened to grow up here, then she definitely was in that type of environment. This carries on for another few sessions before Yerim walks into their Friday meeting at the end of the day crying.

Taeyeon sat with her patiently, handing her tissues and letting her cry without saying anything at all. It took a while before the girl had calmed down enough to catch her breath and say anything.

“I’m really trying..”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m trying,” there’s a pause where Yerim whimpers and breathes deeply, “to be normal, I’m trying.”

“What do you mean by normal Yerim?”

“Not… not like this. Not gay.”

Taeyeon pauses afterwards, giving Yerim time to come to terms with what she had said and to see if she was going to say anything else. 

“Why is being gay a bad thing?”

Truth be told, Taeyeon would really like to hug this poor kid and tell her everything was going to be okay, but she knew that was unprofessional of her. 

“Because it is, everyone makes fun of me because of the rumor. My parents…”

She trails off and that alarms Taeyeon.

“What about your parents?”

“They’ll kick me out if I don’t change, if I don’t fix myself. They’re already making me attend church and youth group every week and now they want to send me away to a camp and I… I don’t want to go unnie.”

Yerim broke down again, sounding miserable as she put her head in her hands. Taeyeon felt ill from the idea, technically, her parents weren’t breaking any laws but they were beyond morally incorrect for treating their daughter so poorly. Not only was she being harassed at school, but she was being harassed at home too.

“Yerim, do you feel unsafe in your house?”

“Like… like my parents will hurt me?”

“That, or just generally unsafe or uncomfortable around the other occupants of your home.”

Taeyeon waits patiently, but her heart is beating rapidly in her chest as she watches Yerim try and piece together an answer. She doesn’t receive a verbal answer, but the one she’s given is enough for Taeyeon to deduce that law enforcement needs to be involved. Yerim slips her sleeves up, presenting hand sized bruises all over her arms for Taeyeon to see. She didn’t often deal with abusive parents at this job, but she’s no stranger to it.

“They did this to you?”

Yerim nods but can’t look her in the eye and Taeyeon doesn’t ask her to. 

“Yerim, I need you to know that this is very serious if what you’ve told me is true. I’m going to need to involve the police and potentially child protective services.”

Yerim immediately whips her head up, tears streaming down her face as she violently shakes her head in protest.

“No, no no no please don’t do that please. I take it back, I take it back I’m sorry.”

Taeyeon feels her heart break, this poor kid is terrified and she shouldn’t need to be so afraid. 

“Sweetie, if this is serious you’re in danger, it’s my responsibility to make sure that you’re not. I’m legally obligated to report this.”

Yerim cries, and cries, and cries. She has no words left to say as Taeyeon informs the secretary in the office to contact the police and send them there as soon as possible. The school day was nearing its end and she couldn’t send the girl home, not with what she has been told. Yerim is still crying in her chair when she reenters the office, her heart dropping.

“Yerim, we’ve contacted the police and they’re going to send some officers over to talk to you okay? If you want, I can be there with you the whole time.”

Her shoulders shake as Taeyeon crouches down next to her, god she really wants to give this poor kid a hug. Yerim whimpers into her hands and Taeyeon feels like the biggest jerk despite only trying to help.

“I wanna go home.”

_ Fuck it _ , Taeyeon thinks, this kid needs a hug and who knows how long it’s been since she’s been given one. She wraps her arms gently around the shaking teen, pulling her close to her chest and stroking her back.

“I know honey, I know and I’m sorry. But I’m trying to help you, I promise I will do whatever I can to help you.”

It's a long day of talking to police and having CPS called before they finally conclude more evidence is needed and her parents must be questioned. They don’t want to send Yerim home if she has evidence of harm on her body, but she has no one else she can stay with, or so they think. Taeyeon remembers the photos that started the incident, she remembers the other girl that Yerim barely brought up. She pulls Yerim aside to talk to her privately in hopes that this girl can help.

“Yerim-ah, the girl in the photo, can she help you?”

It’s clear that Yerim is apprehensive to the idea, but it does appear that she at least thinks it over.

“I don’t want people to know… I’m trying to protect her unnie.”

Even through all of this, Yerim is still trying to protect this girl’s identity, Taeyeon feels a swell of pride seeing how kind hearted the kid is.

“And you’ve done a very good job sweetie, but if she can help you I encourage you to reach out.”

It takes some convincing but eventually they reach out to the family, according to Yerim the girl is a childhood friend named Saeron whose parents were a lot more accepting than her own. It’s nearly nine in the evening when Taeyeon is sure Yerim is going to be safe tonight. The girl hugs her tightly, crying into her arms and thanking her over and over again. Before she leaves, Yerim slips her a piece of paper.

“I don’t know if you’ll still be attending this school, but if you do I want you to take a look at this okay? I really think this might help you.”

-

That’s how Taeyeon ends up with all five of them in her small office after school on Tuesday. They each look more than uncomfortable around one another, they all knew of one another. 

Bae Joohyun, the not so perfect girl.

Kang Seulgi, the star who fell from the sky.

Son Seungwan, the girl who lived.

Park Sooyoung, the neighborhood skank.

Kim Yerim, the queer.

“I’m really glad you all decided to give this a try, I have a feeling this might be very beneficial to all of you.”

They didn’t seem to think so, but Taeyeon had hope that these girls could help one another. Little did they all know, the greatest friendship of all time would be formed in this very room. 


End file.
